Archive for July, 2014

5.3 has been a long time in testing and we would like to thank all those that volunteered their time during the beta tests to make this a solid release. This is our release with the most beta versions ever. The fundamental internals of the program have changed to be memory managed so as to be more compatible going forward. We’ve been pushing the limits of backwards compatibility to give everybody the best program possible, but looking forward the next big version is likely to go 10.8+ only.

Along with all the improvements, better ISBN searches, faster speeds, UI tweaks and bug fixes that come with 5.3, what I want to highlight in particular is all the work done by Alex over on the Doghouse Online Library side. This is the beginning of easier sharing with friends as well as having your library on the go, should one – gasp, the horror – not have Pocketpedia. Do test it out and let Alex know about any bugs you might find. With such a massive undertaking and in the early stages there is still a lot to add and tweak, but it’s best to do so live with web applications so that we can receive a broader feedback.

The programs are running great on Yosemite, so if you are one of the lucky few in the Yosemite open beta do not hesitate to give the new version a try. There’s still lots of work to do for OS X Yosemite, but we have left all this UI work and new features for after Yosemite launches as the final design and internals could change between the beta and the public release of Yosemite.

Hence why this post is called Wawona Tunnel. This is one of the most famous view points at Yosemite park and reached via the southern entrance to the park. From the Wawona Tunnel view point, one can look all the way down the length of the park to Half Dome. So that’s where we are at with the Pedias: in Yosemite but still not down on the valley floor with our camping all set up.

The next beta version, 5.2.2, of the Pedia programs is out. This one is a major overhaul of the memory internals, making all the Pedias faster and lighter. It also addresses a number of issues with the upcoming Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite, due out in the fall.

Some of the changes include the new system font of Helvetica Neue which is now used in the details view for Yosemite, table headers match the new Yosemite style and several freeze and bug fixes for Yosemite. One of the few changes that will appear for all users, regardless of OS X installed, is a thinner divider line between the views in the main window. Also included is the final version of the new Doghouse online library option.

A couple of known bugs with Yosemite are the gray background and incorrect highlight in the collection view and deleting text from the internal search does not update the results. These are Yosemite bugs that hopefully will get fixed in an upcoming beta version, but otherwise will work around them after the release of the Yosemite Golden master.

If you happen to be testing the beta version of Yosemite do give 5.2.2 a whirl and let us know about any other issues you experience. Especially usability issues such as freezes and crashes. If you’re not running Yosemite do test the betas all the same to make sure the modernization of the code for Yosemite did not break any functions all the way back to OS X 10.5. We’ll be releasing an official new version soon on our web page followed by the Mac App Store version.

The next version of Pocketpedia with fixes for both iOS 7 and iOS 8 is also in the works and should be out in a couple of weeks.